Where culture comes to life

A centre for expertise in the artistic traditions of India

For over 60 years, Darpana has been a centre for research, training, and performance of many of India's art forms: from classical dance and music, folk dances from across the subcontinent, to the crafts, stories, and histories of the many communities that make up India's diverse cultural fabric. 

At Darpana, we recognize culture as something that is neither uniform or static - rather, it is made of many traditions, art forms, narratives, histories, and languages, which are constantly changing, intersecting, re-forming, and disappearing. Darpana works in many layers of Indian culture at any given time: from teaching and performing the ancient classical and folk dances and music of the Indian subcontinent to creating new fusion works combining art forms from different cultures.